The House by the Lake

Tuesday, 21 June 2016

Written by: Ella Carey

Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt

Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release Date:03-29-16

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

3 STARS

Anna leaves her business in San Francisco to undertake a mission for her elderly grandfather. Seems he came from a wealthy family who owned a large estate in Prussia. They lost everything and were forced to leave during World War ll. Grandfather Max left something behind, he wants Anna to retrieve it

Off she goes to Germany to find the precious possession, but getting access to the old house is proving difficult, everywhere she goes she is met by a cold unhelpfulness. She finds out that her beloved grandfather is certainly not loved in his home town, nobody though will tell her why.

Eventually finding some help, Anna finally gains access to the house and to the secrets of the past, in doing so, she makes makes a new friend and ally.

Review

An interesting enough story, but I thought it was a bit lightweight. I don't feel I got to know Anna very well at all, her character could have done with a bit more back story to make her less one dimensional. There were a couple of moments when it seemed she might become interesting but those moments passed.

The story is told by switching between the time periods and I enjoyed Max's era more so than Anna's. The characters seemed stronger and more vibrant, these periods had emotion and impact and were well written. One part in particular sticks in my mind, something I really wasn't expecting!

At the end, everything fell into place very quickly and, I must say, a tad conveniently.

I'd liken this to reading two stories, one is interesting, the other is not quite so interesting.

Narrator

Excellent narration by Teri Schnaubelt who injected life into the somewhat dull parts of the story. Teri mastered so many accents, flowing from one to the other in seamless fashion, making it seem easy. I would guess that the "Max" period was quite a challenge, so many accents, age and gender changes, those emotions! All beautifully delivered. Great job.

Audiobook provided by the producer, author or narrator in return for an unbiased review.